USMLE Forums banner

Just gave my test yesterday ..

4K views 25 replies 13 participants last post by  Mr.wonderful 
#1 · (Edited)
Hello everyone ..

i dont want to go deep in my experience unsure what I should share , but i m gonna share it in a brief and feel free to ask me.
I started preparing one year back , I am still an IMS (MBBS) , needed this long time as i had to stop for the school tests , this made some gaps , so i changed my previous appointment to the summer vacation .

in last week i really couldn't study very well ending up almost missing out 2 days , but I didnt feel bad as i read 1st Aid 6 time (additionally I would always check every answer of the uworld so i mastered it ) i tried to have good sleep so my GP prescribed me a short acting anti-histamine i was on it last week , i was happy i could sleep 7 hrs the night before the exam GOOD SLEEPING is very important .. with a cup of coffee in the morning

when i woke up i felt refreshed , went to the center , got some snacks , coffee (dont drink to much ,caffeine is diuretic ) , RedBull , I everybreak ate something it helped me a lot to stay refreshed

the test Mcqs , they looked like UWORLD and NBMEs 16,17 .. actually i got some exact MCQs from these 2 forms, so make sure u do them they are a must ..
the exam in general was DOABLE but NOT easy many tricks i marked not less than 10 mcqs per block
again the 3 Ps(phrma , path , physio ) are the most important .. anything else is important too but not as such important !!!!!!!


Everyone gives this exam really goes through a different experience , dont try to copy someone's plan .

but get an idea about most important topics , and make sure you master these 4 resources

-1sti aid (the more you read it , the more new things you discover , that you didnt pay attention to in the previous reading )
-UWORLD ( almost 90% of its mcqs are somewhere in 1st aid , for me i would highlight anything mentioned in uworld , it help focus on the super-high-yield things .. so make sure add missing part in 1st aid as it completes st aid )
-Pathoma ( this is the best medical book ever after 1st aid , espically for general pathology e.g. inflammation and cellular injury )
- (+/- )DIT .. if i knew about this very early i would have skipped some of Kaplan videos especially micro , pharma ( except the general pharma , ANS , and cardiac drugs)
if u aint gonna do DIT , at least look for the stars topics (google them )they do show up

my resources in my journey , i don't want to go in details of them .. but feel free to ask about them
- KLN ( I regret reading them twice my colleagues asked to not do it but i did! only read ur weak areas again ) all except micro (did CMMRS . its NOT worthy ) . pathology (pathoma . it looks a very simple books , and it really is! and thats what u need !)
-UWORLD(twice ) , USMLE-RS (not worthy )
- Khan cases for ethics
- HY-Neuroanatomy

finally never copy someone's experince , i once had diffcult time deciding if I should postpone my test and asked my colleagues everyone gave a different opinion . they werent wrong ... but the right decision is mine

wish u the best
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Hello everyone ..

i dont want to go deep in my experience unsure what I should share , but i m gonna share it in a brief and feel free to ask me.
I started preparing one year back , I am still an IMS (MBBS) , needed this long time as i had to stop for the school tests , this made some gaps , so i changed my previous appointment to the summer vacation .

in last week i really couldn't study very well ending up almost missing out 2 days , but I didnt feel bad as i read 1st Aid 6 time (additionally I would always check every answer of the uworld so i mastered it ) i tried to have good sleep so my GP prescribed me a short acting anti-histamine i was on it last week , i was happy i could sleep 7 hrs the night before the exam GOOD SLEEPING is very important .. with a cup of coffee in the morning

when i woke up i felt refreshed , went to the center , got some snacks , coffee (dont drink to much ,caffeine is diuretic ) , RedBull , I everybreak ate something it helped me a lot to stay refreshed

the test Mcqs , they looked like UWORLD and NBMEs 16,17 .. actually i got some exact MCQs from these 2 forms, so make sure u do them they are a must ..
the exam in general was DOABLE but NOT easy may tricks i marked not less than 10 mcqs per block
again the 3 Ps(phrma , path , physio ) are the most important .. anything else is important too but not as such important !!!!!!!


Everyone gives this exam really goes through a different experience , dont try to copy someone's plan .

but get an idea about most important topics , and make sure you master these 4 resources

-1sti aid (the more you read it , the more new things you discover , that you didnt pay attention to in the previous reading )
-UWORLD ( almost 90% of its mcqs are somewhere in 1st aid , for i would highlight anything mentioned in uworld , it help focus on the super-high-yield things .. so make sure add missing part in 1st aid as it completes st aid )
-Pathoma ( this is the best medical book ever after 1st aid , espically for general pathology e.g. inflammation and cellular injury )
- (+/- )DIT .. if i knew about this very early i would have skipped some of Kaplan videos especially micro , pharma ( except the general pharma , ANS , and cardiac drugs)
if u aint gonna do DIT , at least look for the stars topics (google them )they do show up

my resources in my journey , i don't want to go in details of them .. but feel free to ask about them
- KLN ( I regret reading them twice my colleagues asked to not do it but i did! only read ur weak areas again ) all except micro (did CMMRS . its NOT worthy ) . pathology (pathoma . it looks a very simple books , and it really is! and thats what u need !)
-UWORLD(twice ) , USMLE-RS (not worthy )
- Khan cases for ethics
- HY-Neuroanatomy

finally never copy someone's experince , i once had diffcult time deciding if I should postpone my test and asked my colleagues everyone gave a different opinion . they werent wrong ... but the right decision is mine

wish u the best
Giving this exam is an achievement in itself!!! congratulations for being done !
Can you please share how were your last 6-8 weeks like? what were you doing in those days ? how were you planning the materials through out the day??
When did you see improvement in nbmes ?

Thanks and GL for your score
 
#3 · (Edited)
thanks mom260.

last 6-8 wks were the worst for me , especially it was during Ramadan , and had some family circumstances ,, but the thing that made me quite confident is that i didn't stop even if i only study 1 page!(that literally happened )
what i did is reviewing 1st aid +Pathoma + and UWORLD + NBME every 2-3 wks there wasnt significant improvement in last weeks i got NBME 16, 17 same score

I could never follow any plan i made so i'd always make an exhaustive one( I think that was wrong! i didnt take really breaks ... have good breaks because if u push ur self to the limit believe you me u will neither study well nor relax ... though i am a hard worker but it never worked )
but generally i'd start my day with 1-2 blocks of uworld , check my wrong answer as it was my 2nd time to do it .. then read 40-60 page of 1st aid .. then pathoma quick review

my 1st nbme was a shock i did it after i read 1st aid twice and finished uworld .. the thing that changed my progress was DIT .. believe you me , i thought this course was a waste of time but really improved my recall ability ended up scoring +16 in next Nbme though i stopped for 2wks for school finals (NBMEs were 2 months apart )

i know friend who really did exactly my plan (without dit ) and scored a good score and gave the test on time for me i postponed ... so ur ability and NBME scores are the determinants of the need of dit there is a good determinants i found it somewhere on the web they say if
NBME <220 .. U NEED DIT
IF <240 it might help
if > 240 .. aint gonna help

i guess this is not accurate though

sorry i m this talkative but felt this might help

wish u the best too
 
#4 ·
Hi Mr. Wonderful, thanks for sharing your experience & Congratulations for getting done with the exam.
If you could please advise me regarding USMLE-RX, you mentioned that it is not worthy.
I am doing USMLE RX along with FA (have already finished first read from kaplans, pathoma)
RX just to get a good grasp of FA and reinforce the concepts.
UWorld I will do in the final phase of my preparation like in the last 3-4 months. Exam will be in jan-feb.
Do you think in this context RX can be a little useful for me? Or you still think im wasting my time on it?
Thanks in advance
 
#5 ·
Hi , thanks bro ... though I really find it difficult giving a direct advice to someone . but you know what , i felt like I have exaggerated what i said about USMLE-Rx a bit
it's not really not worthy but for me it didn't help me that much neither in understanding 1st aid nor memorizing it .. espically after doing my 1st NBME found out that USMLE -rx is totally different from really NBME ..

its always better to do more MCQs , but I would ve done uworld twice over having done uworld once and usmle-rx which was what I 1stly did before i postponed my exam , or at least do it in a rash (took me 2 months )

i know a friend who got 251 , and he recommended usmle-rx , it worked for him , didn't for me .. just make sure you give UWORLD its time because as u dont know uworld , everyMCQ really matters and takes time to understand and try to do it twice i really ignored this advice by a friend but after doing it i realized what it meant ..

hope this helps . best wishes
 
#13 ·
Hi please can you advice me on how to improve my physio and biochem?it is really bringing down my nbme scores.i have done BRS but for some reasons i just dont understand it.thanks.
for bio it's always been my weak , i did KLN 3 times , but i guess I shouldnt ve been done that .. bio in 1st aid is almost enough but needs to review the illiustration in KLN as they aint good in 1st aid and to be supplemented from UWORLD FOR ME this was enough .. try to review 1st aid over and over and highlight thing you forget and review them on daily basis , this what i did

physio you really need to master CVS where 1st aid is not enough , UWORLD help a lot especially when i went through 2nd time .. my general advice is to add anything from UWORLD to 1st aid .. and Google things that are quite difficult this help a lot especially wiki

hello! where are you from , what do u do and how long did ur prep take, ur nbme scores please :) thanks for sharing your experience
as I said has been almost a year and a month , and i am a student ,

NBME11,12,15,16,17 ... 213,217,234,237,237 (burned out couldn't do much last month ) respectively

Congrats!

Can you please tell advise me on where to start studying? I am done my basic sciences, so should i start with anatomy? physio? embryo? path ?

thanks
I didnt get you , you mean you have finished basic science years or the first pass over KLN ?

good luck with your score .. thnxs for sharing ..

I have some questions please

did you encounter any micro or patho question where you couldnt figure out the answer without the picture they give in the question ?

i mean are there questions where u can only answer the questoon by knowing the micro-organism in the pic or by knowing the exact histopathology in picture ? or you can answer all questions based on question stem?

and how do u think we should prepare for anatomy .. thank you again
Histopath and Micro slides as well known ain't that important
for me I got a question about a patient who ate something(forgot what it was) and showed a pic of a worm .. couldnt figure it out
but usually you answer the questions based on the scenario

for anatomy there were almost 2-4 MCQs per block , usually easy and mentioned on 1st aid , but still get some questions that even not on KLN espically pelvic anatomy ( i got a question with lady after delivery she got a 4th degree tear , what nerve got injured ? i picked pudendal unsure though ) i dont know which resource can help in this
but concentrate on the common topics especially the ones in 1st aid and uworld
like lymph node (know them by heart ) I got 3-4 questions about them
coronaries and heart borders ,
and they asked about at which levels are organs located in associate to spinal vertebrae
aortic branches (got a question about a angio to renal artety and asked what artety just above the renal , i guess the gonadal )
and thing in 1st aid even anatomic pics are very important

for neuro , i used some random websites for brainstem sections and HY-neuroanatmy , but didnt get many mcqs though

hope this helps
 
#8 ·
my friend

thank you for your sharing my friend
i wish good scores for you

[zQUOTE=Mr.wonderful;829529]Hello everyone ..

i dont want to go deep in my experience unsure what I should share , but i m gonna share it in a brief and feel free to ask me.
I started preparing one year back , I am still an IMS (MBBS) , needed this long time as i had to stop for the school tests , this made some gaps , so i changed my previous appointment to the summer vacation .

in last week i really couldn't study very well ending up almost missing out 2 days , but I didnt feel bad as i read 1st Aid 6 time (additionally I would always check every answer of the uworld so i mastered it ) i tried to have good sleep so my GP prescribed me a short acting anti-histamine i was on it last week , i was happy i could sleep 7 hrs the night before the exam GOOD SLEEPING is very important .. with a cup of coffee in the morning

when i woke up i felt refreshed , went to the center , got some snacks , coffee (dont drink to much ,caffeine is diuretic ) , RedBull , I everybreak ate something it helped me a lot to stay refreshed

the test Mcqs , they looked like UWORLD and NBMEs 16,17 .. actually i got some exact MCQs from these 2 forms, so make sure u do them they are a must ..
the exam in general was DOABLE but NOT easy many tricks i marked not less than 10 mcqs per block
again the 3 Ps(phrma , path , physio ) are the most important .. anything else is important too but not as such important !!!!!!!


Everyone gives this exam really goes through a different experience , dont try to copy someone's plan .

but get an idea about most important topics , and make sure you master these 4 resources

-1sti aid (the more you read it , the more new things you discover , that you didnt pay attention to in the previous reading )
-UWORLD ( almost 90% of its mcqs are somewhere in 1st aid , for me i would highlight anything mentioned in uworld , it help focus on the super-high-yield things .. so make sure add missing part in 1st aid as it completes st aid )
-Pathoma ( this is the best medical book ever after 1st aid , espically for general pathology e.g. inflammation and cellular injury )
- (+/- )DIT .. if i knew about this very early i would have skipped some of Kaplan videos especially micro , pharma ( except the general pharma , ANS , and cardiac drugs)
if u aint gonna do DIT , at least look for the stars topics (google them )they do show up

my resources in my journey , i don't want to go in details of them .. but feel free to ask about them
- KLN ( I regret reading them twice my colleagues asked to not do it but i did! only read ur weak areas again ) all except micro (did CMMRS . its NOT worthy ) . pathology (pathoma . it looks a very simple books , and it really is! and thats what u need !)
-UWORLD(twice ) , USMLE-RS (not worthy )
- Khan cases for ethics
- HY-Neuroanatomy

finally never copy someone's experince , i once had diffcult time deciding if I should postpone my test and asked my colleagues everyone gave a different opinion . they werent wrong ... but the right decision is mine

wish u the best[/QUOTE]
 
#9 ·
Hello everyone ..

i dont want to go deep in my experience unsure what I should share , but i m gonna share it in a brief and feel free to ask me.
I started preparing one year back , I am still an IMS (MBBS) , needed this long time as i had to stop for the school tests , this made some gaps , so i changed my previous appointment to the summer vacation .

in last week i really couldn't study very well ending up almost missing out 2 days , but I didnt feel bad as i read 1st Aid 6 time (additionally I would always check every answer of the uworld so i mastered it ) i tried to have good sleep so my GP prescribed me a short acting anti-histamine i was on it last week , i was happy i could sleep 7 hrs the night before the exam GOOD SLEEPING is very important .. with a cup of coffee in the morning

when i woke up i felt refreshed , went to the center , got some snacks , coffee (dont drink to much ,caffeine is diuretic ) , RedBull , I everybreak ate something it helped me a lot to stay refreshed

the test Mcqs , they looked like UWORLD and NBMEs 16,17 .. actually i got some exact MCQs from these 2 forms, so make sure u do them they are a must ..
the exam in general was DOABLE but NOT easy many tricks i marked not less than 10 mcqs per block
again the 3 Ps(phrma , path , physio ) are the most important .. anything else is important too but not as such important !!!!!!!


Everyone gives this exam really goes through a different experience , dont try to copy someone's plan .

but get an idea about most important topics , and make sure you master these 4 resources

-1sti aid (the more you read it , the more new things you discover , that you didnt pay attention to in the previous reading )
-UWORLD ( almost 90% of its mcqs are somewhere in 1st aid , for me i would highlight anything mentioned in uworld , it help focus on the super-high-yield things .. so make sure add missing part in 1st aid as it completes st aid )
-Pathoma ( this is the best medical book ever after 1st aid , espically for general pathology e.g. inflammation and cellular injury )
- (+/- )DIT .. if i knew about this very early i would have skipped some of Kaplan videos especially micro , pharma ( except the general pharma , ANS , and cardiac drugs)
if u aint gonna do DIT , at least look for the stars topics (google them )they do show up

my resources in my journey , i don't want to go in details of them .. but feel free to ask about them
- KLN ( I regret reading them twice my colleagues asked to not do it but i did! only read ur weak areas again ) all except micro (did CMMRS . its NOT worthy ) . pathology (pathoma . it looks a very simple books , and it really is! and thats what u need !)
-UWORLD(twice ) , USMLE-RS (not worthy )
- Khan cases for ethics
- HY-Neuroanatomy
wish u the best
hello! where are you from , what do u do and how long did ur prep take, ur nbme scores please :) thanks for sharing your experience
 
#11 ·
good luck with your score .. thnxs for sharing ..

I have some questions please

did you encounter any micro or patho question where you couldnt figure out the answer without the picture they give in the question ?

i mean are there questions where u can only answer the questoon by knowing the micro-organism in the pic or by knowing the exact histopathology in picture ? or you can answer all questions based on question stem?

and how do u think we should prepare for anatomy .. thank you again
 
#15 ·
first of all congrats on taking the exam, that in itself is a huge relief.
can you tell us a bit about safety science and quality improvement in the exam? did you encounter any weird questions related to those topics?

thanks
 
#16 ·
I saw your question yesterday , I tried to recall anything but couldnt , before my exam I thought of the same topic i didnt find any resource to cover this
all i got are the typical weird ethical cases nothing new e.g. DNR ..
but i noticed UWORLD is releasing some new MCQs recently for safety stuff e.g. hand hygiene , so make sure you read them
 
#26 ·
I posted the most important things in my experience , I really dont know what else I should post ,, if you have any specific questions , it would be a pleasure to answer them

Congratulations! That is really a wonderful score : ) Good luck for step 2!
thanks San.. you too

hey congratulations
Wanted to ask if you found anything unusual on your test ?
Was there any emphasis on any subject ?
was anatomy or behavoiral science more than expected ?
And what about CT scan /MRI /Xray and murmurs ?
I really cant say there was anything unusual .. the questions were exactly like the usual MCQs you see on NBMEs and UWORLD ..
the only thing I did not expect is , how important 3 Ps are , compared to other subjects ..the majority of MCQs were from these 3 , you MUST master them
for behavioral science nothing new to me
for anatomy as I said earlier it was generally easy to tackle .. but pelvic anatomy is quite high-yield and I didn't find any good resource to cover it , I got 2 MCQs for it

I got 2 heart sound . To be honest I couldnt know them , I answered one based on the MCQs , the other sounded to be a normal heart sound so I picked the choice " normal heart sound "

Imaging was not I difficult part , i would recommend you to master the usual image on 1st Aid and UWORLD , and you might do this website .. I did it it was a helping hand
http://www.med.wayne.edu/diagRadiology/Anatomy_Modules/Page1.html

but as I said they were not difficult
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top